


Fire Doesn't Mix With Air

by gen



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Avatar Trucy, Family, Family Fluff, Family Issues, M/M, Mutual Pining, avatar AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 12:52:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4667225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gen/pseuds/gen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a water bending Phoenix adopts a water bending Trucy, no one told him he was adopting the Avatar.</p><p>See also:  Another AU that no one needed, but is here anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire Doesn't Mix With Air

**Author's Note:**

> I really don't have an excuse for this, I guess. With everything going on in my other fic, I needed time to write a hopeless father Phoenix with Trucy, and my friend and I were talking about how i'm going to cosplay Bolin one of these days, and when she does the wig, she's just going to turn it around to cosplay Gumshoe, so we got talking about how Bolin must be Gumshoe's great-great-great-great granddaddy. That sparked the whole 'WHAT IF PHOENIX WAS A WATER BENDER AND HE ADOPTED THE AVATAR BUT THEN THE AVATAR LEARNED HOW TO FIRE BEND AND EVERYTHING WAS GREAT BUT IT REALLY WASN'T' and that is basically a better summary than what I have written. Basically this is just a break from all the angst and sadness and tears that are coming up for me, and I suppose I'm posting it as proof that yes, Ann does have a heart.
> 
> Let the record state that I am a sucker for pining NaruMitsu, like they want to be in a relationship so badly, but it's not working, so they just kind of float around each other for forever. And let it be known that I am currently trying to learn how to write a Miles Edgeworth that isn't completely done with the world 100% of the time.
> 
> TR will update in the next couple weeks, I was just at a block.

 

 

Phoenix ran a hand through his beanie-mussed hair.  It had been about a month since he’d brought home his daughter (adopted, only barely though), and he knew it would be different, being a father, but…

He’d never imagined this.

Sure, the case file had told him everything.  Trucy was a water bender, and a good one for her age.  Truth be told, that was one of the reasons why he had been so keen to adopt her so quickly.  The first two weeks had been great; they’d played in the rain together, he’d helped her hone her water bending skills…everything seemed to be going great.  In fact, he had learned quite a bit from her, too (he had never been the best at bending, choosing instead to focus on his studies).  

But no one had told him that he had adopted the freaking _Avatar._  

Halfway through the month he had been legally in charge of Trucy, he woke up one morning only to trip over a new _speed bump_ in their living room.  As soon as he’d righted himself from that, there was another one sprouting up underneath his feet as he walked, knocking him off balance right away.  He’d taken a few precautions with the earth bending quickly: no earth bending in the house unless it was an absolute emergency, and if any earth bending happened in the house, it was to be met with swift take-backsies.  

The _fire,_ on the other hand…

Luckily for him, tap water was easy-access, and this apartment had been saved quickly.  His couch, though, that would take some more creative thinking on his part.

“Trucy…?” He called out carefully.  He was afraid that any sudden movement would be returned with more fire blasts. _Wasn’t there supposed to be air in between them?_ “Trucy, are you there?” 

“Daddy!” Came the eager reply, and suddenly, there was a ball of pink in his arms.  His daughter buried her face in his neck, and he subconsciously bounced her on his hip. “Hi, Daddy,” she smiled.

“Trucy, do you want to tell me why the couch was on fire?” 

“I can _fire bend,_ daddy!” Trucy’s eyes lit up when she unburied her face and looked at him.

“I…I gathered that, kiddo, but…our _couch…_ ” The gasp that came from Trucy’s mouth only made the pit in his stomach deeper.  He took one look at her to find her trademarked ‘I have something to tell you’ look. “Trucy?” He set her down on the floor and crouched to her level.  It was always important, he’d found with her, to meet her at her eye level before asking her a question she didn’t particularly want to be asked. “Where exactly did you learn you could fire bend?” The little girl crossed her arms behind her back and rolled back and forth on the balls of her feet.  

“You gotta promise you won’t be mad,” she looked up at him through her eyelashes with her puckered lips, and her puppy dog eyes, and Phoenix _hated_ that look when it was used against him, and he let out a long sigh.  “Please?”

“I promise,” Phoenix resigned himself to his fate. “Can you please tell me where you found out you can fire bend?”

“Well…it’s not _only_ fire bending, daddy…”

 _Only!?_   Phoenix tried his best to school himself into a calm face. “W…what else did you find out you could do?”  Trucy’s face lit up again and she grabbed Phoenix’s sleeves, pulling intently.  

“I can air bend, too!”  For a moment, Phoenix was filled with the same glee in her face, and he crouched over to follow her toward— _wait no, why is she taking me to—_

Ever since his disbarment, saying that Phoenix was well enough off to live a comfortable life would be…an overstatement.  Two bedroom apartments were a bit too expensive for him, so for the past two months, they had been living in a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, with a living space and kitchen molded into one.  

So when Trucy pushed open their bedroom door to reveal a completely _scorched_ room, with all their furniture burnt to all but ashes, it wasn’t even an over-exaggeration to say that he was _flabbergasted._  

“Trucy?” He hissed.  The four-year-old tugged on his sleeve. 

“You promised, Daddy!”

Squashing his frustration down was a bit more than he had bargained for.  Phoenix took a long, deep breath in through his nose.  

“Trucy, what happened?” He tried again, afraid that if he said any more that he would end up yelling.

“I learned a very important lesson today, daddy,” she sounded so proud of herself that her father had to do everything in his power to keep from snapping at her.

“What did you learn?” 

“I learned that if you try to put out a fire with air, it doesn’t work!” She exclaimed, “It only makes more fire!” 

Pinching the bridge of his nose so hard that he saw stars, Phoenix counted until he reached fifteen before he let out the air. 

 _Please, please let us get all our belongings out of here before the landlord sees this…_ Phoenix prayed to any higher power he could think of.

 

* * *

 

 _“Wright, what on earth do you think you’re doing, calling me at this hour?”_ Came an extremely annoyed Miles Edgeworth over Phoenix’s phone.  Having already called Maya, Larry, and even Kristoph (and thus thoroughly exhausting all of his resources), Phoenix figured that the best place to take his budding—fire and air bending—Avatar was none other than a fire bender himself.  At first, he had scrolled past Miles’ contact in his phone on account of the fact that he hadn’t _seen_ the prosecutor since his disbarment, and if he was being honest, seeing Edgeworth in the state he was in at the moment sounded awful.   But after he and his daughter had gathered everything that Trucy hadn’t destroyed in the fire, he’d announced that they were going on and adventure through the city.  So far, they had visited the noodle stand, People Park, and an ice cream truck, and therefore used all of Phoenix’s spending money for the week, and now that it was ten o’clock at night, he had finally made the one phone call he was hoping that he wouldn’t have to make.  

“Um…Edgeworth, you know about that girl that I adopted a month ago?”

A few unintelligible grumbles came from the other side of the phone before he could understand anything. “Yes, I remember.  Her name was Trucy, correct?”

“Yeah,” Phoenix rubbed the back of his neck, even though he knew that the other man couldn’t see him. “Trucy.  I’ve got a funny story for you…”

“Wright, if you try and tell me that this girl is the Avatar, the one that everyone has been looking for for the past twenty years, I swear, I am going to hang up this phone.”

Unsure what else to do, Phoenix let the silence drag on.  

“Oh my god,” Miles huffed. 

“We kind of got thrown out of the apartment,” Phoenix looked over at a drowsy Trucy, who was leaning her cheek on her hand. “She learned that fire doesn’t mix with air…”

“And she _fire bends,_ to boot?  In the name of everything that is holy, Wright, do you have any idea what this means?”

“It means that we’re out of a place to stay, and it’s dark,” Phoenix cut in.  It sounded more like a snap than he meant, but at least it had pulled Miles out of his anger. “I would rather not have my daughter sleep on the streets, Edgeworth.” That shut him up, at least.  Miles was quiet for a moment, and Phoenix could almost hear the wheels turning in the other man’s head. “Please, Miles, it won’t be for too many nights, and you’re one of the only fire benders that I trust in the city, and-,”

“I live in the penthouse on eighth street,” it was Miles’ turn to cut him off. “Hit the buzzer when you arrive.”

The breath that Phoenix let out felt like it could have brought someone back from the dead. 

“Thank you, Edgeworth.”

 

* * *

 

Miles paced around his apartment impatiently, as if the constant movement would make Phoenix hurry.  _Honestly, how long does it take a man to walk from People’s Park here?  Probably ten minutes, and we hung up fifteen minutes ago…_ he thought angrily.  

Only to be reminded that he was walking with a four year old who was probably tired, scared, and a little cranky.  

His forehead made a satisfying ‘thud’ when it connected with his bookshelf.  

Miles thought of himself as a simple man.  He didn’t ask for much.  After all the business with Hazakurain, he had made plans to return to Europe to finish his business there, but when Wright lost his badge, however…that was a different story entirely.  The man had been so distraught, and seemed so helpless…his understanding that his friend had _adopted a little girl_ on top of that, and now that girl was found out to be the _Avatar…_

The second thud was just as satisfying as the first. 

Some days, he thought that the luck of Phoenix Wright was unending, like it came from another world, even.  Today, however, he realized that even the luckiest of peoples ran out.  And when Wright ran out of luck, apparently he hit rock bottom hard.  

 _It’s only going to be for a few days at most, one at the least,_ he reasoned with himself. _And how awful could his daughter be if she’s stayed with him for a month?  Surely I can do this._

The buzzing sound that rang through his apartment was enough to startle him out of his thoughts.  Walking over to his electric lock, Miles held the intercom button down before leaning close to the speaker. 

“Come in,” he all but ordered, hitting the ‘unlock’ button right underneath.  On the other side of the line he could hear a faint ‘carry me’ before Wright’s ‘thanks’ came through.  Miles cracked his door open in the meantime as a silent reminder that his guests were welcome.  

Turning back to his apartment, Miles strode over to his counter and pinched one of his candles’ wicks between his fingers.  As soon as he brought his hand away, there was a nice little flame left in its place.  The man watched it for a moment with a small smile on his face, and when he stepped further into his home, he bent a small little flame and whirled it around his hand.  

“Edgeworth?”  A voice came from the door.  Turning on his heel, Miles was greeted with the face of his childhood friend peeking through his doorway.  It took the former a moment to recognize the man; obviously he hadn’t been too keen on saying hello to his razor, as to the fact that there seemed to be a perpetual five o’clock shadow caressing his jaw.  The blue eyes that used to shine in the courtroom now looked dim (something that made his chest seize up in sorrow.

“Wright,” he breathed.  Even though he hadn’t _seen_ the man (they had only communicated through phone calls since the adoption) in a few months, the brunette still had enough hold on his heart to make him stop in his tracks.  He cursed himself for it, but pushed the feeling back into his gut.  The man moved farther into the doorway to reveal a girl in a magician’s outfit sleeping on his shoulder, and Wright was carrying two packed duffel bags in his other hand. “Let me help you with that,” Edgeworth offered, moving to take the bags.  Phoenix gladly handed them over, using both hands to support Trucy.  

“Thanks,” Phoenix smiled one of his truly genuine smiles. _Breathe, damn you Edgeworth,_ Miles cursed himself. “Is there a place I can set her down?”

“Ah,” Miles nodded and set the bags down next to the air mattress he had blown up in anticipation for the two. “Right here.”

“You thought of everything,” Phoenix laughed. “Typical Edgeworth.”

“If by ‘typical Edgeworth’ you mean that I am a gracious host, you’re welcome,” Miles mumbled under his breath as Phoenix set down his daughter.  As the man moved away, the gray haired one finally got a good look at the young girl who had won over Phoenix so completely.  She had a round face with full cheeks, and he was sure that she couldn’t stand over four and a half feet yet, but her brown hair splayed out across the pillows and her face like a renaissance halo.  

In that moment, Miles understood why Phoenix had made the decision so quickly to adopt her.

“She’s perfect,” Miles found himself saying before he knew it.  Phoenix, upon hearing the words come from his friend’s mouth, looked up in surprise.  

“You think so?” He whispered before a full smile came over his face. “So do I.”

“Even if she does burn your apartment down,” Miles clarified.

“I knew you’d bring that up,” Phoenix laughed.  They were quiet for a moment, simply watching the girl sleep.  “Seriously, Edgeworth,” Miles thought he was imagining the hand that brushed the back of his own, but when it happened again, only this time lingering in place, he grabbed on. “Thank you.”

“It…it’s no problem,” Miles sputtered, finally breaking away from Trucy to look at the man fully. “Anything for a friend.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Let the record also state that maybe one day I'll get around to writing a canon-typical-not-a-crossover AA fic. But today is obviously not that day.


End file.
